Sign.



PATENTED APR. 4, 1905.

N. B. WOOD.

SIGN.

APPLICATION FILED D130. 2, 190a.

ww m 744 4 4 A,

UNITED STATES Patented April 4, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

NATHAN B. WOOD, OF NEW YORK,

MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE N. Y., ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND SIGN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 786,334, dated April 4,1905. Applicati n filed December 2, 1903. serial No. 183,429.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, NATHAN B.VVO0D, a citizen of the United States,residing in New York city, borough of Manhattan, New York, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Signs, of which the following isa specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a sign in which theadvertisement or other display may be alternately changed from onedesignation to another by means of contrasting colors, lettering, ordesign, or one or more of the same; and to such end my inventioncomprises the novel details of improvement that will be more fullyhereinafter set forth and then pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming parthereof, wherein- Figure 1 is a face view of a sign embodying myinvention. Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2 2 in Fig. 1, enlarged,looking in the direction of the arrows, showing the parts in oneposition to display a certain coloring, lettering, or the like. Fig. 3is a similar view showing the parts in a different position to indicatea change in the sign. Fig. 4 is a broken sectional view, enlarged, onthe plane of the line 4 4 in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a rear view of the sign,partly broken. Fig. 6 is a detail view of one of the sheets of the sign,showing a detail of manufacture; and Fig. 7 is a detail perspective Viewshowing the relative arrangement of the operative parts of the sign.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in theseveral views.

In the drawings the numeral 1 indicates a frame which may be similar toa picture-frame and which is shown provided at 2 with a front glass andat 3 with a movable back, adapted to slide back and forth in frame 1.The main parts of my improved sign consist of sheets of cardboard,paper, metal, or other suitable material, placed one upon the other,certain of which are adapted to have movement relative to the other, andsuch sheets are constructed and arranged as follows: At 4 5 are twofront sheets fitting within the frame 1, so as not to have movement withrespect thereto, and at 6 7are two rear sheets secured to the back 8, soas to move therewith. The two front sheets are provided with parallelslots and strips or tongues at the sides of such slots, and one sheet islaid upon the other, so that its strips lie partly upon the strips ofthe latter sheet and lap-the slots of the same, and the back sheets 6 7are similarly arranged, but in reverse order, so that the strips ortongues of the back sheets may slide through the slots of the frontsheets and between the strips thereof and when pushed in one directionwill overlap the material of the front sheets and when pushed in thereverse direction will be drawn behind said sheets to be concealed fromview. In forming such slots and strips or tongues I take, for example,the sheet 4 and provide the same with a series of parallel slots 4, andat the top and bottom edges of such slots and on the corresponding sidesthereof I cut slits 4 which produce projecting strips or tongues 4, thatextend from the main cross-pieces 4, a margin 4' being left all around.(See Fig. 1.) The sheet 5 is similarly out to provide strips or tongues5 and cross-pieces 5, and the two sheets are then placed one upon theother and adjusted to position lengthwise of each other in such mannerthat the strips of one sheet will pass through the slots of the othersheet and extend behind the cross-pieces thereof, or, in other words,the strips 4 of sheet 4 pass through the slots of sheet5 and extendbehind the cross-pieces 5 thereof, and thereby the cross strips andpieces of the sheet 4 conceal or fill the slots in sheet .5, andlikewise the cross strips and pieces of sheet 5 conceal or fill theslots in sheet 4. The result of this arrangement is that from a faceview of the sheets there is produced substantially the appearance of asingle sheet or series of strips. As the strips or tongues of one sheetthus fold behind the cross-pieces of another sheet, they provide guidesor ways for corresponding strips of the rear sheets 6 7 to travel onthrough the spaces formed by the members of the two front sheets. Therear sheets 6 7 are made in substantially the same manner as the sheets1 5 and put together similarly, providing the strips or tongues 6 7 andcrosspieces 6 7; but by preference the strips or tongues 6 7 are madewider than the strips 4 5, which may be accomplished by merely verticalslits, corresponding with the slots t, instead of making slots wide, asin Fig. 6, by removing the interposed material. The two sheets 4 5 whenarranged as described above are preferably pasted together, and the twosheets 6 7 are pasted together and secured by paste or otherwise to theback 3, and the front sheets 1 5 are laid upon the rear sheets 6 7 andadjusted with respect to the latter, so that the strips or tongues 6 7alternately pass through slots of the front sheet, so that the strips ortongues 6 7 lie behind the strips or tongues 4 5. As shown in Fig. 5,the back 3 is narrower or shorter than the width of the frame 1, so asto have movement relative thereto. The sheets 4: 5 constitute one memberand the sheets 6 7 another member of the sign.

When the parts are adjusted together and the back 3 is moved to theright, as in Fig. 2, the strips 6 7 will be shifted behind thecorresponding strips of the front sheets and concealed, and thereby thelettering or design placed upon the front sheets will be exposed toview. Any suitable lettering or design for an alteration of the signwill be placed upon the strips of the back sheets, and when the back 3is adjusted to the left the strips 6 7 will be pushed through betweenthe corresponding strips of the front sheets, (see Fig. 3,)concealingthe latter and exposing to view the lettering, &c., upon the backsheets. The front sheets may be colored to contrast with the rearsheets, so that when the latter are in one position one color will beexposed and when moved to another position a different color will beexposed to attract attention, and likewise different designs and otherarrangements familiar to the sign-makers art may be adopted on the frontand back sheets to vary the design as one set of sheets is adjusted withrespect to the other.

As indicated in the drawings, a rib 8 may be provided all around frame1, against which the front sheet 4. may lie to provide a space betweenthat sheet and the glass 2 to keep the strips from the back sheets fromengaging the glass as they are projected through between the frontsheets. To permit the back 3 to readily slide with respect to frame 1,said back may be mounted upon ball-bearings, and in order that suchbearings may act efliciently when the sign is placed at an angle to thevertical, as along the upper corner of a railwaycar, the back 3 is shownprovided with lon-' gitudinally-disposed recesses or grooves providingwebs 3, whereby the balls 9 may rest in the races formed between theframe 1, the front sheet 5, the web 3, and the edge 3 of the back 3.Pins or stops 10 at the ends of the back and between said ends limit themovement of the balls. The back 3 being thus freely mounted may slidewithin the frame without undue friction, and such sign being placed in arailway-car the sudden stopping or starting of the car may be utilizedas a means for causing the shifting or changing of the sign. In otherwords, when the car is suddenly brought to a stop the back 3 may shiftin one direction with respect to the frame 1, and when the car issuddenly started thereverse shifting may take place, thereby causing theautomatic shifting of the sign. However, it is also contemplated thatany suitable mechanism may be provided for causing the back 3, with itsattached sheets 6 7, to shift back and forth for alternately exposingthe different displays on the front and rear sheets.

At 11 are indicated clips attached to frame 1 and overlying the back 3to keep the various parts in position. By having the front sheets fittedsnugly within frame 1 and the rear sheets adapted to move relatively tothe front sheets the changing of the display is readily effected by themovement of one set of sheets relatively to the other.

My invention is not limited to the particular details of arrangementshown and describedas, for instance, instead of strips and tongues andcross-pieces being produced from a sheet of material by cutting slots,&c., the same may be made by taking separate strips of material andpasting them in proper parallel positions upon crossbars,thus virtuallybuilding up the sheets-and other modifications may be made in thedetails set forth without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having now described my invention, what I claim is 1. A sign comprisinga pair of sheets provided with slots and strips, the strips of one sheetoverlapping the slots of the next sheet, and another pair of sheetsprovided with overlapping strips respectively located between strips ofthe first-named sheets and adapted to slide across the latter and to beconcealed behind the same, substantially as described.

2. A sign comprising a pair of sheets provided with slots and stripsplaced one upon the other with strips of one sheet passing through theslots of the other sheet and overlapping the transverse pieces thereofproviding openings therebetween,and another pair of sheets provided withstrips overlapping each other and alined with the spaces between thecorresponding first-named strips and arranged to slide in front of thelatter to conceal them and to slide behind said strips to expose thelatter to view, substantially as described.

3. A sign comprising a pair of sheets provided with transverse slots andhaving slits at corresponding sides of said slots providing extendedstrips, the strips of one sheet passing through the slots of anothersheet, and

another pair of sheets provided'with strips respectively located betweentwo strips of the first-named sheets and arranged to slide therebetweenover the faces of the first-named strips to conceal the latter,substantially as described.

4. A sign comprising a member having strips, part of one stripoverlapping part of an adjacent strip and providing spaces therebetween,and another member having strips lying partly one upon another arrangedadjacent to the first-named strips and alined with said spaces to passtherethrough, a frame to which the first-named strips are attached, saidframe having horizontally-disposed guiding-ways, and a back to which thesecondnamed strips are attached, said back being guided by said Ways andarranged to have movement with respect to said frame for causing thelast-named strips to alternately con- NATHAN B. l/VOOD.

Witnesses:

T. F. BOURNE, M. HOLLINGSI-IEAD.

